The APDT Chronicle of the Dog Summer 2018 | Page 27

FEATURE | PUPPY HOLD
It’s Time to Retire the Puppy Hold
There are more progressive ways to cooperate with and to calm your puppy, and to prepare him for vet visits.
By Katherine Grillaert, CBCC, CPDT-KSA, CBATI
I
t’s a common sight in puppy classes – students sitting on
the ground, arms wrapped around the puppies on their
laps. Some puppies are held like a baby. The larger puppies
are sitting up. The instructor lectures this important exercise
teaches the puppies to be calm when restrained. At least half
of the puppies are squirming, some with great energy, and
students are holding them tighter, or waving treats in front of
the puppies’ noses to try to calm them.
If you’ve attended or taught puppy classes, you’re probably
nodding along. The Puppy Hold is an exercise in most
curriculums, often endorsed by well-respected, senior trainers.
When I began teaching, I wanted all my students
to be successful when they took their puppy to
the vet, so I taught the Puppy Hold as well.
Eileen Anderson’s blog “Sink or Swim: 8 Ways You
Might Be Flooding Your Dog,” which also calls
out the pitfalls of Pass the Puppy – an extension of
the Puppy Hold.). It is generally taught to pick up
the puppy and hold him until he becomes calm. To
give up is supposedly to teach the puppy that “he
can get what he wants” if he squirms.
We’ve generally ditched flooding in other training
situations 1 , so why does this vestige remain?
We can teach the puppy to accept restraint
using systematic desensitization and counter
Professional trainers need to periodically
evaluate if their training is progressive,
dog-centered, and matches their ethics.
There are at least a handful of things during
my career as a horse and dog trainer that, upon
reflection, cause me to cringe. As painful as
that is, I interpret this regret as a sign that I am
meeting my personal goals of continual growth
and critical thinking. It is my duty toward my
students to deeply consider the intention and the application
of each training method that I employ – even when that means
admitting I was wrong.
And that’s why I threw out the Puppy Hold. It is unnecessarily
stressful for many puppies, and we have more refined tools to
accomplish the goal of the Puppy Hold. It also sets a precedent
for the puppy that he has no control of his situation, which is
a factor in many behavioral issues. Finally, there’s potential to
harm the human-animal relationship. conditioning, proceeding slowly enough so the
puppy doesn’t feel stress or panic. Taking it a
step further, we can use positive reinforcement
techniques and operant conditioning to train
our puppies to be active and willing participants
in their own husbandry routines. This approach
is called cooperative care. It’s the gold standard
in zoo animal husbandry, and small animal
veterinarians and progressive trainers are getting
on board as well.
Engage your puppy in appropriate and appetitive operant
conditioning exercises rather than hold him down.
Let’s first consider the goal of the Puppy Hold: Usually, this is to
teach calm restraint for husbandry procedures. The Puppy Hold
is an exercise in flooding (you can read more about flooding in In many cases, the Puppy Hold is ineffective, and
at worst, detrimental. Some students may never
see progress with the Puppy Hold in class. If the
puppy continues to squirm, we’re not teaching
him anything positive, just harassing him. If
Photos: Shutterstock
The APDT Chronicle of the Dog | Summer 2018
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